Happy November! November always seems like the start of the holiday season to me. It’s not here yet, but the early birds are beginning to think about Christmas. Yesterday we had a blast celebrating Halloween with all the preschoolers who showed up for the Downtown Trick-or-Treat event. There were some mighty cute costumes, some of which you can spot on our Facebook page here. My favorite was a little puppet, who was so well supported that her dad could actually pick her up.

All of our staff were dressed up and ready to greet you for Halloween!

This week’s coffee is from the country of East Timor, a brand new country, having established independence from Indonesia in 2002 (see the BBC country profile here). East Timor has had its tumultuous times in the last eleven years, but these farmers have persevered, succeeding in bringing their coffee to an American market. This coffee is from a cooperative of small farms, and is grown at high altitude.

Fair Trade Organic Timor is a washed arabica green bean, which we also refer to as wet-processed. This means that water is used to remove the fruit from the bean, as opposed to a dry-processed coffee, where the fruit remains intact. Once the fruit is removed, these beans are sun-dried, in the traditional method. The processing method can change the flavor of the coffee, so the method used will effect what you taste when you drink this Timor.

This Timor has a tangy sweetness, which cools into cocoa tones. You can emphasize the chocolate flavors if you try it with a piece of Halloween candy, like I did yesterday. We brewed a French press to sample it right out of the roaster, and while everyone else noted a pleasant acidity, and sweet fruity tones, I was tasting chocolate with each sip. With or without a chocolate bar, you can’t go wrong with this East Timor coffee. It’s easy to drink, with less body than last week’s Sumatra.

You can try this Fair Trade Organic Timor on us this week by using the code Halloween candy*. You might sound a little out of date for the first week of November, but you’ll get a free cup of coffee out of the deal. I hope that you enjoy this shiny new month and stay open to possibility and change this next week. Tomorrow we’ll be busy with all kinds of kid events, so we’ll definitely start the day with a good dose of coffee. Enjoy!
–Holly Fike

This was a fun week around here, with all the employees dressed up for Halloween on Wednesday, and the preschool trick-or-treaters coming around for candy. If we awarded a prize to our cutest customers, I think we’d hand out a years worth on Halloween. You can see pictures of some batmen, butterflies and birds on our Facebook page here, or on our blog here. The whole day is exciting, since you never know who is going to walk in the door, from Superhero to Scrooge.

The morning crew on Halloween

November around here is the start of the holiday season. We start to get extra product in, and we put together gift baskets and coffee crates for sale. It’s always entertaining to open a plain brown box and find pink hot chocolate inside (attention Santa: Caroline would like one in her stocking), or maple syrup from Vermont. Most of the products we carry come from California, like our Earth and Vine jams made just down the hill in Loomis. This year we’ve put together a “California Made” gift basket and the challenge was paring down all the gourmet items we carry from this bountiful state!

This week we’ve changed up one of our everyday standard brews, so that all of you dark roast lovers can try something new. Hopefully it wasn’t too upsetting to anyone (actually, I think most of you didn’t notice), but the brewed coffee in the #1 pot this week is Dark Sumatra instead of French Roast. We sell an amazing amount of this single-varietal dark roast, and we wanted more of you to have a chance to try it.

Our Dark Sumatra is our top grade Sumatra Mandheling roasted to a French Roast. Most of our dark roasts are a blend, to provide balance in the cup. The Dark Sumatra, on the other hand, has a full-bodied flavor and dark taste without being blended. If you love a dark roast, come on in and try a cup for free by mentioning the code in bold above (hint: this week it’s gift baskets). I hope your Halloween was as delightful as ours!

It was the annual preschool trick or treat today, and we had a fun time greeting our youngest customers. This is a great, safe, and family-oriented event that draws a crowd every year. We were all dressed up in the store today too, as the pictures below attest. There are more pictures on our Facebook page, if you’d like to see them bigger. Enjoy!

All the morning staff were dressed and ready to keep up with the crowds!

Darling Trick or Treaters–even the pets were dressed up!

These young men were ready for Halloween!

So sweet!

Serious faces from these young ones.

All of downtown is decorated (clockwise from left: City Hall, The Bookseller, and Dorado Chocolates).

Guatemalan Antigua

There’s so much I could write about today that the trick is to condense it into something you might be willing to read. The header picture is one that I intended to use last week, when I had high hopes of sending out a missal from the beach, describing the relaxing time we were having leaving footprints up and down our stretch of sand. There was some sand golf, the collecting of shell treasures by small children, fishing in the foamy surf and lots of walks along the edge of the salty sea. We even enjoyed two days in Disneyland without even a meltdown. What memories!

Family Fun at Disneyland!

However, by last Friday I wasn’t feeling very well, so I never did send out any pictures from our trip. Today the rest of the family is down for the count (these things do go around, don’t they?), so Trace and I are switching round staying home with the kids, and I’ve just managed to make it in the store. What a difference a week makes! On a happier note, the sun is sparkling outside, the autumn leaves are drying and making a very satisfactory crunch underfoot, and we have a beautiful Guatemalan Antigua to share with you.

I believe I wrote a few months ago that we moved our coffeemaker into our bedroom. It’s a delight to wake up with the coffeemaker near at hand, especially on those mornings when coffee seems like the best reason to get out from under the down comforter. This week Trace has commented several times on the aroma of the pound of Guatemalan sitting regally in its brown bag across the room. He’s been roasting coffee for almost three decades, so his affirmation is significant.

This Guatemalan comes from the highlands of Antigua, and it is roasted light so that you can taste the nuances that the estate farming brings to the bean. It does indeed have a rich aroma, and when you brew a cup you taste an earthy, smooth flavor, with a touch of citrus as it cools.

You can try a cup for free by mentioning the code highlighted above (hint: it’s shell treasures). I hope your next week is a healthy one, full of good coffee and equally good memories.

–Holly Fike

Guatemalan Antigua

This week: $11.99

List Price: $12.99

In other news . . .

It’s Halloween!

Next week is the annual preschool trick or treat around downtown. This will be my first year out of the last seven without a preschooler to take up the street! We will be handing out candy nonetheless, and if you have or know of a small child who would like a safe place to show off their costume, downtown Grass Valley is the place. The event takes place from 10 until noon on Halloween, and it’s always a treat to stop by the Center for the Arts and pick up your free book in addition to all the candy. You can find out more about it the day here.